"James, what is this that I've heard about you not signing on for the next series?"
Bradley keeps rolling things up and shoving them into his backpack. Wonderful things backpacks. He hadn't even realized how useful they were until he had watched Merlin pack everything he'd for some quest or another into one backpack. He had demanded that Merlin pack more, that there was no way in hell he was going on this fucking quest unprepared, as it was bad enough that he had to go on quests in the first place. Merlin had told him, absently, to stop being such an idiot (never prat, he had never called Bradley a prat), and that he knew a hell of a lot more about going on quests than Bradley did.
"Bradley," Katie said when he didn't respond. "You're worrying Colin." You've worried me too, was the subtext.
He hefted the bag, checking to see how much it weighed. "I'm fine," he told her absently, "I just need a bit to get my head together."
It was a lie, of course, but he figured that a year of backpacking might actually make it true. He just needed to get away from the show though, because he couldn't tell whether the whole thing hurt because it *wasn't* Camelot, or because it looked like enough like the place that he sometimes still had nightmares about sitting on the throne.
Katie leans against the doorway and actually looks at him, not at the Bradley who lives in her mind, the Bradley who's thirty years younger and has never seen a man die. "This will mean the end of the show," she tells him. Her voice is hard to read, devoid of inflection.
However, in the first time for years, lives don't depend on his decision. No one will die if he quits, and no one will hold this against him, not really. It's just a TV show. "I know," he tells her.
no subject
Bradley keeps rolling things up and shoving them into his backpack. Wonderful things backpacks. He hadn't even realized how useful they were until he had watched Merlin pack everything he'd for some quest or another into one backpack. He had demanded that Merlin pack more, that there was no way in hell he was going on this fucking quest unprepared, as it was bad enough that he had to go on quests in the first place. Merlin had told him, absently, to stop being such an idiot (never prat, he had never called Bradley a prat), and that he knew a hell of a lot more about going on quests than Bradley did.
"Bradley," Katie said when he didn't respond. "You're worrying Colin." You've worried me too, was the subtext.
He hefted the bag, checking to see how much it weighed. "I'm fine," he told her absently, "I just need a bit to get my head together."
It was a lie, of course, but he figured that a year of backpacking might actually make it true. He just needed to get away from the show though, because he couldn't tell whether the whole thing hurt because it *wasn't* Camelot, or because it looked like enough like the place that he sometimes still had nightmares about sitting on the throne.
Katie leans against the doorway and actually looks at him, not at the Bradley who lives in her mind, the Bradley who's thirty years younger and has never seen a man die. "This will mean the end of the show," she tells him. Her voice is hard to read, devoid of inflection.
However, in the first time for years, lives don't depend on his decision. No one will die if he quits, and no one will hold this against him, not really. It's just a TV show. "I know," he tells her.
Tag, you're it.